


To Build A Home

by kocon



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 15:26:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14047227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kocon/pseuds/kocon
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri has always felt like something was missing. No, not just his deceased parents or confusion about his college major...but something internal. Something just under the surface, something just out of reach, something so incredibly important. And when Viktor Nikiforov transfers into every single one of his college classes, this feeling grows. When his sister Mari and his caretaker Takehiko close down their hot springs business, it grows stronger. When he is confronted by a so-called assassin on an afternoon walk...it peaks.





	To Build A Home

**Author's Note:**

> my name is eli, im 17, and i never learned how to fucking write
> 
> lkfadsjh anyways, this is my first published fic since i was 12 and used wattpad religiously soooooo 
> 
> enjoy and lmk what you think <3

He could  _ almost  _ feel it in his hands. The life and peace, the death and cruelty that came with nature. It was there, seeds implanted beneath his palms, his fingers quaking in anticipation, but weeds choke the flowers under the surface. Always, without fail...he would stare at his hands until he memorized the lines, like bark on a tree, engraved into his palms. Until--no, it couldn’t be, roots snaked out of the small seeds, connecting to his veins, feeding off the life in his body,  _ finally  _ about to sprout--

 

“Yuuri.”

 

Yuuri jerked awake, wildly looking around to spot the source of his name. In doing so, he realized that not only had he fallen asleep at the desk in his English class, but that the entire class was staring at him. 

 

“Shit.”

 

**_____**

 

“Oh, Yuuri, get over it! At least it wasn’t History this time. Mrs. Lee gets  _ so  _ offended when anyone falls asleep, or even looks  _ away _ from her shitty lectures.”

 

Yuuri groaned, leaning on Phichit’s side heavily. “Well in History, I didn’t _ cry out _ in my sleep…god, who knows what they all think of me now?”

 

A casual shrug. “Probably that you were having a sex dream.”

 

“ _ Phichit! _ ” Yuuri cried out, shoving his best friend in horror. Passersby stared in amusement, or annoyance, Yuuri couldn’t tell. Meanwhile, his best friend cackled beside him.  _ Betrayal.  _

 

They strolled along in comfortable silence, Phichit somehow staying on the sidewalk  _ and  _ typing at lightning speed on his phone, Yuuri lost in thought. 

 

Pondering his dream, he felt a strange excitement well up in his gut. He had always had that dream: the pure white, glowing space surrounding him, the complete frustration and longing piled in his chest...the pressure underneath his palms, welled up in tiny “seeds”, as he liked to call them. It always, always had felt like something was missing in Yuuri’s life, something important. This, he concluded, had manifested in his dreams. Years ago, he had left it to the conclusion that the thing missing in his life was his blood relatives, save Mari, his older sister. 

 

It had always been Yuuri, Mari, and Takehiko, their caretaker and now family; them and their hot springs business. As a small child, Yuuri’s “why” phase consisted of asking about his parents; the sight of the other children with mommies and daddies sparking confusion and sadness in his heart. At first, Takehiko had responded to this with brushing it off, easily distracting young Yuuri  with playtime or a snack. However, it came a time when Yuuri couldn’t be fooled anymore. Takehiko had sat him down at the time, his expression somber and serious. He had told Yuuri how his parents had died in an accident, not long after he was born. When asked of other family members, Takehiko explained that they all lived scattered across Japan, where he and Mari were born and raised, and where Yuuri’s heritage lay. Seven-year-old Yuuri took this information in without a doubt in his caretaker, but twenty-four-year-old Yuuri just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was  _ missing.  _

 

“Oooo.”

 

Yuuri snapped out of his thoughts, looking over to Phichit, who had stopped short and was holding his phone merely inches away from his face, eyes sparkling with something unreadable.

 

“You’re gonna ruin your eyes like that, you know. End up like me.”

 

Choosing to ignore the statement, Phichit looked up at Yuuri with glee. “Guess what?”

 

“What.”

 

“We’re getting a transfer, apparently, according to Yuko!” 

 

Yuuri blinked. “Oh, nice. But what’s the big deal?” 

 

Feigning disapproval, Phichit shook his head. “My Yuuri...do you not understand the direness of our situation? This school...full of idiots, potheads, homophobes…”

 

Yuuri glanced at his best friend with a ‘look’. Phichit chuckled and went on.

 

“And Yuuko told me he’s attractive--”

 

“Ah, so  _ that’s _ why you’re so interested in this.”

 

“Hey now! It’s not  _ just _ the looks I’m interested in.”

 

“And how do you know this man is not an idiot, pothead,  _ or _ homophobe?”

 

“He held the door to admissions open for Yuko. She said he smiled at her.”

 

Yuuri playfully rolled his eyes, saluting with two fingers at his friend as he began to walk on the grass towards his dorm. 

 

Though it was nearly December, Yuuri’s dorm room hardly looked lived-in. It was a simple room, small; two beds lay on either side of the space, yet only one was occupied. A year and a half ago, he made the decision to go to college. For what he hadn’t decided yet, but he just had to do something with his life, he felt. And working at their hot springs business until he withered away was not part of that plan. 

 

That night, Yuuri didn’t dream. 

 

**_____**

  
  


Over the next three weeks, life went on as usual. Weekends were spent at home working at Yu-topia, while weekdays were filled with various classes and homework, with Phichit and Yuuko at his side. 

 

Weeknights were...hard. He had therapy every Thursday, but the loneliness of a small, bare dorm room allowed him to drown in his thoughts. The workload was getting heavier, and to add on to this, finals were approaching. Life had seemed to take on a dull, muted color. With each passing day, the hours passed slower, the homework piled up, and Yuuri’s posture slumped just a bit more. The pounds gained, the deadlines passed, and all the while he just couldn’t be bothered. 

 

On a Tuesday afternoon, Yuuri was walking back to his dormitory after a long morning of classes (with more to come that evening). It was a particularly cold day, and idiot that he is, he had left his coat in class, leaving him shivering and cursing under his breath all the way to the tall brick building. 

 

Upon entering through the foggy glass doors and walking towards the gates to the elevators, Yuuri noticed a collection of suitcases, duffel bags, and totes all surrounding the back of a man talking to the receptionist. Slightly curious, Yuuri watched the back of the man as he scanned his ID to get to the elevators. 

 

Just as he was walking to the stairs as he always did, the familiar voice of the receptionist called his name, making him start. He turned to them, and  _ oh,  _ the man happened to be looking right at him. Piercing blue eyes and platinum blonde, almost gray hair, the weathered stare of this man left Yuuri transfixed. Dragging his gaze away, he turned his attention to Lori, the amiable receptionist. 

 

“What’s up?” Yuuri asked nonchalantly, ignoring the Roman statue to his left. 

 

Lori smiled cheerfully and gestured to said statue. “Oh, I just thought I should introduce you to your roommate here!”

 

Yuuri’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, searching for words to express whatever _ this  _ was _.  _ Fear, surprise, embarrassment, shock? All of the above? 

 

He had a  _ roommate  _ now. He wasn’t going to be alone. But then again, what if it’s awkward, or he’s a jerk, or-

 

“Yuuri?” Lori always did pronounce his name a bit wrong, but the slightly concerned lilt in her voice made Yuuri very,  _ very  _ aware of the fact that he’d been staring at the receptionist with an open mouth. 

 

“Nice to meet you, Yuuri,” said a gentle, calm, and slightly accented voice to his left. Julius Caesar pronounced his name perfectly. 

 

Shaking off his fear and apprehension, Yuuri turned to face the welcoming eyes of his new roommate. “Nice you meet you..er..”

 

A hand outstretched, a twinkle in his eye, and the warmest smile he’d seen in weeks. “Viktor.”

 

**_____**

 

The elevator ride up to the top floor was awkward, to say the least, but Viktor broke the silence near the 4th floor, bless him. 

 

“So...how did you manage to keep an individual room this whole time?”

 

_ Lori must’ve told him. Not weird, not weird. _

 

“Uh. Well.” Glancing to his left, Yuuri saw that Viktor was listening intently, blue eyes gleaming with interest. “I, uh...my first year, it was because I requested it. I...was scared, to be honest. But...this year--” 

 

_ Ding.  _

 

The elevator jostled to a stop, opening up to the brightly lit hallway. They stood for half a second, before Viktor looked away and Yuuri quickly gathered his bags, heat creeping up the back of his neck. Stepping out of the elevator, Yuuri waited for his roommate. He traced the patterns of the rug with anxious eyes, the burgundy, beige, and hints of blue making up a generic, hotel-style pattern. 

 

_ Oh god. My room. I didn’t clean my room.  _ A shameful blush crept  onto his face. 

 

A cough brought Yuuri’s eyes to Viktor’s, instead of the very  _ interesting _ rug, and the blush grew stronger.  _ Oh. He doesn’t know where my room is.  _ Our _ room. _

 

Face positively  _ hot _ , Yuuri gave up on words, feebly waving a hand to follow as he started down the hallway. Opening the door to his— _ their _ room, he looked down shamefully. “Sorry about the mess.”

 

But Viktor seemed to pay no mind, immediately beginning to investigate. He started with the succulents on the windowsill between the two beds, carefully stepping around the various clothes and objects on the floor. He studied them with a small, wistful smile, and glanced over to Yuuri’s nightstand, face turned away from Yuuri’s staring eyes. As soon as he had turned, Viktor froze, for the shortest of seconds. But when his gaze met Yuuri’s again, it was like nothing had happened at all. 

 

Curious anyways, Yuuri’s line of sight flitted over to the nightstand, meeting only a picture of his parents, preciously framed and placed away from the edge. Thinking little of the small blip, he offered Viktor help in unpacking, which was graciously accepted. 

 

It was approaching evening when they had almost finished with the last suitcase. They had been chatting on and off, mostly Yuuri telling the other about school life, and noises of approval from Viktor; as well as a collaborative decision on where things should go. It had reached a period of comfortable silence, something Yuuri didn’t think was possible with a stranger. 

 

“So, what were you saying in the elevator, before we were so  _ rudely _ interrupted?”

 

The sudden question caused Yuuri to stare, a bit open-mouthed and half-folded shirt in hand, before he realized what Viktor was asking. 

 

“Oh. Uh. I think we were talking about how I was able to... _ hoard _ this room for so long?” Chuckling somewhat, he continued when he noticed  Viktor was actually listening. Hm, better than a certain  _ phone-addicted someone _ would have in store. 

 

“Um, so I guess this year is a little different than last year. I mean, last year, like I said, I was scared. I had heard a lot of horror stories about roommates, and I...wasn’t in the state of mind to deal with that.” Feeling a bit self-conscious, he continued to help fold the clothes. “But this year...I, um, I felt differently. Lonely, I guess. So I put in for a double. They didn’t have enough people, though, until you.” 

 

Viktor let out a hum of approval. “Guess I’ll have to keep that loneliness at bay, then. As long as you’re okay with late-night gibberish.” 

 

Yuuri smiled, at that. “Sounds good to me.”

 

**_____**

 

During the shock, wariness, and acceptance that was the previous night, Yuuri had failed to text his best friend. Not just about what had happened, but not at  _ all. _

 

Now to a completely normal person, that wouldn’t have been a problem. But to Phichit, one night of ignored texts, getting more frequent and more frantic by the hour, might as well have been the end of the world. 

  
  
  


**_BANG!_ **

 

Jumping about a foot, Yuuri sat up quickly, opening his eyes to find Phichit staring right back at him.

 

“ _ Phichit!! _ ”

 

“Yuuri!!” Phichit echoed back, quite a bit louder. “You didn’t answer my texts last night! We have twenty minutes until class! And--”

 

What the man was about to say next dropped into an  _ O _ , for the sheets in the bed across the room shifted from a pile to reveal Viktor, in all his sleepy morning glory.

 

“You--what--” Phichit’s mouth opened and closed, searching for an explanation. It found one. “Oh. My. God.”

 

Immediately sensing his evil best friend’s disbelief and amusement, Yuuri woke up completely in a matter of seconds. 

 

“No, oh my god, it’s not what you--” 

 

But Yuuri’s protests, behind a mountain of shame and embarrassment, were for naught. Phichit held a hand to Yuuri’s  _ actual face _ , glancing between the two beds and what occupied them with glee. 

 

“This is amazing. Oh my god. I have to tell Yuko, that the-- _ the transfer boy _ is, is--”

 

“Is Yuuri’s new roommate.” Viktor, seemingly suddenly awake, deadpans. Yuuri prys his best friend’s hand off his face, replacing it with his own to hide his embarrassment. 

 

Phichit’s mouth returns to that  _ O _ shape, before slowly cracking into peals of laughter. “Shit, I thought Yuuri was finally getting--”

 

“Shut  _ up _ , Phichit. You’re a dead man, I swear to god.”

 

“Alright, alright. Upsie-daisy, we gotta get to class.” The demonic morning hooligan proceeded to rip Yuuri’s hand off his face and pull it upwards. Yuuri groaned.  _ How someone can have so much energy in the morning is beyond me.  _

 

Once Yuuri was up and standing, Phichit made a beeline to Viktor, proceeding to bombard him with greetings, questions, and some not-so-platonic body language. 

 

It was 7:45 A.M.

 

By the time Yuuri was ready and Phichit was dragged away from a tired Viktor, they were ten minutes late to class. Yuuri will admit that they ran all the way there. He won’t admit that they raced, and he lost.

 

**_____**

 

Viktor happens to be in Yuuri’s 12:30 math class, after an action-packed (...or something like that) lunch involving Phichit telling  _ greatly exaggerated _ stories to Yuuko. 

He seemed very interested in the class, taking a seat near Yuuri (with a smile) after his introduction and taking notes at lightning speed. He nodded when the professor made a good point, and seemed to understand everything with ease. 

 

Yuuri noticed, well, that he was  _ noticing _ all this when Viktor’s curious eyes glanced back at his. 

 

Suddenly self-conscious of the amount, or lack thereof, of notes he was taking, Yuuri bent an arm around his notebook, trying to zone in on the professor’s explanations of his Powerpoint. 

 

As this was a usual class-packed Wednesday, Yuuri still had two more classes to attend. He dragged himself out of math and trudged down the hall, wondering if he could grab coffee and slide in late to his next lecture unnoticed, and ultimately made his way to his next seat.

 

When Viktor was in his Biology class, Yuuri marked it as a coincidence. 

 

Things started to get a little weird when, as they walked out of Biology, Viktor followed him to Psychology, all the while keeping close and a seemingly closer eye on their surroundings. 

 

The same happened on their walk back to the dormitories. An air of awkward silence hung over them, or maybe just Yuuri, he didn’t know. Avoiding the elephant in the room, Yuuri tried sparking a conversation, which didn’t go very far. 

 

That night, Yuuri lay wide awake. From the sounds of it, Viktor did too. 

 

“Yuuri?”

 

“...Yeah?”

 

A deep breath pierced through the darkness.

 

“Whatever happens these next couple weeks... I want you to be strong.”

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed the first chapter!! lmk in the comments if you'd like to see another one <3


End file.
